


Ever Us -- Dolly, the Cocker Spaniel

by c9nightingale, NikkiS71



Series: Ever Us [12]
Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Complete, Death of Character, Inucest, M/M, Yaoi, part of Ever Us universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:08:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26894932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c9nightingale/pseuds/c9nightingale, https://archiveofourown.org/users/NikkiS71/pseuds/NikkiS71
Summary: From my Ever Us universe.  My answer to this question:  Why would a family of Inus want a pet dog?   This is the origin story of Dolly.  Not for children.AU, Ever Us, Inucest, yaoi, OCs.  Time frame:24th century-- 50 years after Ever Us- Forever Us.Special thanks to NikkiS71 for her collaboration in writing chapter 3.
Relationships: InuYasha/Sesshoumaru (InuYasha), Kohaku/Rin (InuYasha), Miroku/Sango (InuYasha)
Series: Ever Us [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1382698
Comments: 4





	1. Chapter 1

Ever Us- Dolly, the cocker spaniel

Disclaimer: I don’t own InuYasha. I don’t make any money from this. I just do this for fun.

Title: Ever Us – Dolly, the cocker spaniel

Author: Gayle Nightingale

Prompt: Why would a family of Inus want a pet dog? The origin story of Dolly. Not for children.  
AU, Ever Us, Inucest, yaoi, OCs. Time frame:24th century-- 50 years after Ever Us- Forever Us.  
Special thanks to NikkiS71 for her assistance in writing chapter 3.

Word Count: ?  
Rated: M  
Genre: Adventure/  
Pairing: Inuyasha/Sesshomaru. Rin/Kohaku, Sango/Miroku

Chapter 1.

Location: BC house  
Time: 2350

“So good to have a quiet moment to read the news. Let’s sit down for a bit.” 

Sesshomaru picked up the newspaper scroll, the latest OTT development. Bobby had sent his father a prototype to evaluate. The reusable scroll was transparent. It rolled into a tube. Every day it updated with a new edition of the news the owner desired. One scroll could be the news from Europe, Japan, or South America for example. It was revolutionary. No more waste or recycling required. Maintenance was nearly nonexistent. All that was required was a subscription to the publishing service. Bobby had a vision that this could take the place of the e-book industry even. He wanted to bring the old scrolls back with a new twist. 

Sesshomaru started his critique of the devise.

“Light-weight, reminiscent of feudal Japanese scrolls, the contents change daily. The side panel is easy to read. The end twists to change editions. I wonder how to pull up old copies or things I read yesterday. Does it have a history like the computer did or an archive? I’ll jot these notes for him after I read a little. What do you think, Girl?”

Dolly woofed softly and wiggled to put her head under Sesshomaru’s hand.

“I understand, Dolly. I like a good scratch sometimes too.”

Sesshomaru scratched his dog’s head and then rested his hand across her flank, a gentle touch to assure her that all was well. 

She sighed and laid her head down.

Sesshomaru found a couple of newspapers to peruse.

An hour later Dolly was still resting peacefully at Sesshomaru’s side on the sofa when Inuyasha returned from grocery shopping with Kagome. Dolly lifted her head and sniffed. Jumping to her feet she eagerly followed Inuyasha into the kitchen, her tail wagging furiously.

Sniffing then smiling, Sesshomaru looked up to see his spouse man-handling several boxes of supplies. Kagome struggled to carry one canvas bag. Sesshomaru stood and walked to his mate’s side. 

“Are there more?”

“Nah. We have them all, don’t we, sweetheart,” Inuyasha called from behind a precariously stacked box.

“It’s so heavy, Father. I could use some help,” Kagome panted. 

Sesshomaru laughed. 

“How about I help you both,” Sesshomaru grabbed the tilting box and the canvas bag with ease.

Inuyasha sat his boxes down.

Kagome collapsed. “Woow. Now that was hard work.” The little girl wiped her hand across her brow dramatically.

The two men took a look at the first grader and laughed.

“I’m sure it was, sweetheart,” Sesshomaru agreed. “What brings the need for so much food, Inuyasha?”

“The kids are coming this weekend, remember. Bobby said they were coming to pick up the scroll and your critique. The others mentioned they were coming too. Rin and Kohaku were dropping by. I imagine they are announcing something. They are probably behind this.”

Sesshomaru nodded. 

“So, the big brave astronaut is finally going to pop the question?”

Kagome looked at her parents and tilted her head. “Is it a hard question?”

Both men looked at her. Her cute childlike features were still present although she was close to 50 human years.

Inuyasha smirked. “Well, it’s taken him 50 years to get up the bravery to do it. You know I remember the young boy that rushed into everything headfirst. Miroku hasn’t mated Sango yet. Maybe it’s a competition?”

Kagome was getting impatient. “What question Daddy?”

“It’s a secret, sweetheart. We’ll find out when all the others get here.”

Kagome wasn’t happy with that answer, but she wasn’t going to pout about it. Daddy and Father didn’t like pouting. She would just ask her big sisters when they got there.  



	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Changes

Now that the Terran humans knew about aliens, Terran demons and Terran hanyous had started revealing their presence. In the first decade after the discovery of alien life, there were some pockets of prejudice among all the Earth inhabitants. This was true specifically among the humans due to all the fables and horror stories in their literature. Miroku was born for this moment. A natural peacemaker, his ability to meet the people where they were, and his adorable puppy eyes won even the biggest xenophobe. He went on motivational speaking tours introducing beings to one another. Bobby, Barbie, and Rin had joined forces with him and Uncle Jaken. They had made a number of movies entitled, “Just Another Day in the Life of -----. Through these movies they introduced the daily life of aliens, demons, hanyous and even humans to each other. Peter and Sango were heavily involved in the movie with the aliens.

Another thing that improved everyone’s perspective was the global cooling. The aliens siphoned off the greenhouse gases a bit at a time to prevent the Earth from going into climatic shock. Even with those precautions the first rainstorms were novel to many parts of the world and the humans were not prepared for the flash flooding. Demons and half demons unified to make an emergency response force. That helped make friends in communities and lasting networks for cooperation.

Seeing flying demons also became normal. It started with the “inflight” incident. Yuki and Kyo were flying in their fancy new commercial airline when a dragon youngling decided to rest on the plane’s right wing. The plane immediately dipped to the right. Yuki immediately corrected. The youngling tried again to land but again the dragon’s weight interfered with flight. Kyo looked out the window and realized the issue. As he conveyed the problem to Yuki, he grabbed the OTT translator and asked the dragon politely to sit on top of the plane. The translator had Ryuu’s voice. The youngling became extremely excited to see the man who talked to dragons and followed the instructions to the letter.

When they landed Kyo deplaned first to address the dragon. Yuki called Ryuu to assist, but by then Kyo and the dragon had become friends even posing for photos for the passengers. Ryuu took the youngling back to his home and spent some time explaining how humans used “metal dragons” for transport. Flying dragons were now just another common place thing. 

The day of the family reunion, Suzy and Ryuu flew in on dragons. Most used the transporters, but a few used their dog forms. They laughed and caught each other up on the news and events. Kenichi bragged endlessly to his siblings about all the research Sango and Peter were producing and mentioned how now they just put their real names on the publications. Steven had completed another residency in cardiology. Keiko had opened a dance studio and was a highly sought teacher for young dancers of all three races. Their three musketeers still had not decided what they wanted to do but were adamant that they wanted to do it together. “One for all, and all for one” they proclaimed. 

Bobby picked up the device from Sesshomaru along with a lengthy critique.

“Wow, Father. This is long. It looks like you don’t like it.” Bobby’s voice reflected his disappointment.

“No Son. I actually did like it. It reminded me of all the scrolls in our castle’s library. Actually, most of my write up offers suggestions for other uses. Plus a few comments on the language of the instructions. Not everyone is under 400 in this house these days. Keep it simple, Bobby. It’s easier to understand.”

Bobby smiled; his relief was obvious. “Thanks Father.”

Barbie walked up with Benji and their two youngest.

“Ask your grandfather then. If you think it’s not fair, talk to him about it.”

Before Sesshomaru could open his mouth Benji started complaining.

“Grandfather, why do I have to watch my siblings? I wanted to play a video game online with my friends. Now I’m going to miss out on all the fun.”

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow. ‘Why am I being drawn into this?’ He rubbed his mark to ask Inuyasha when suddenly Bobby, Barbie, and Benji started laughing.

“Explain,” Sesshomaru stated, his speech clipped.

“Sorry Grandfather,” Benji nuzzled Sesshomaru’s chest. “I have a research paper for school on mating marks. My theory was that if a situation is presented to one mate that requires the assistance of the other, that mate will contact the other within five seconds. Basically, two heads are better than one. Don’t tell the others. I still have to try the experiment on Aunt Keiko and Uncle Steven and Aunt Yuki and Uncle Kyo. Shippo had contacted Tsuki even before I finished the question.” Benji laughed merrily.

“Have you considered the confounders, Benji? Age, number of children, years of mating?” Sesshomaru offered.

“Mom said she had an algorithm to take care of that but thank you for reminding me.” Benji wandered off with his younger siblings to try the experiment again.

“Thanks Father,” Barbie sidled next to him and hugged him. “You were a good sport about that.”

“You have him doing research already?” Sesshomaru watched Barbie’s face. 

“He has grown up with us talking about it and he’s the one that asked us if he could try. OTT must go on.”

“What did you decide to do about OTT,” Sesshomaru asked Bobby and Barbie.

Bobby spoke up. “Everyone knows the name, Father. It’s about marketing and name recognition. Rin did a marketing survey and found out the think tank’s reputation would suffer if we changed the name. We’re going to leave it as is for now. We know it’s Our Think Tank. We know we were the Olson’s. I remember the day we explained our plan to you. The only difference is now we can feel free to just be us, Bobby and Barbie Takahashi. It feels good not to be masquerading anymore.”

“I do understand Bobby. In the old days whenever I missed that freedom too much your Dad and I would just go to Castletown.”

Any further conversation was cut off by a call to dinner.

The feast was set out on a long serving table. Lines were made on either side and hungry mouths grabbed platefuls of Dad’s good cooking. The family sat down in clumps but didn’t start eating until Sesshomaru nodded.

Choruses of “Thank you Father,” “Thank you for the food,” “Thank you Dad,” and “You are the best cook ever,” rained down upon the patriarchs as they enjoyed their children and their grandchildren.

After dinner was over Kohaku stood and raised Rin to her feet.

“We asked you here today. You probably already guessed why, but we wanted to do this the traditional Takahashi way, like Father and Dad did.”

Barbie, Suzy, and Keiko made happy sighs. Their spouses stared daggers at their little brother, but Kohaku just laughed and squeezed Rin’s hand. 

“We went to the castle. Grandma was there talking to Uncle Jaken. They took us straight to the scroll of our ancestors. Boy, did they have stories. The scroll said first, I had to get permission from a relative to court Rin. Uncle Jaken and Grandma both said okay at the same time. We laughed about it later. We had intended on coming to Father and Dad, but Grandma and Uncle Jaken were really into it. They spent the rest of the day telling me how I could prove myself to my mate. That was the next step. Finally, Rin told them that I had proven myself by saving the planet with Grandma. They thought about that for a second or so before they approved. All I could say was thank you. Finally, the scroll said the last phase was to invite Rin to come home, to our castle. We were at the castle, but it didn’t feel like home, so we decided to ask everyone home to BC.”

Rin took over the announcement. “Father, Dad, we’d like permission to court each other. This is the 24th century, equal rights, and all, I can’t let him have all the fun. Plus, I’m older.”

“That’s my sister, you rebel rouser you,” Suzy cheered.

Inuyasha smiled as he looked to his husband.

Sesshomaru nodded. “You have our blessing. Grandma called and told us she could override us if we said no anyway. But why would we stand in your way? Uncle Jaken spoke and gave his permission,” a quick glance at Inuyasha and the inuhanyou nearly died laughing as he remembered a time so many years before.

The siblings all looked at their parents with questioning looks.

“Just a funny old memory,” Inuyasha sputtered out as his laughter slowed and he got his wits about him. “Anyway, how did you prove yourself, Rin? He saved the world.”

Rin adopted a cocky smile. “I AM his world!”

Laughter and knee slaps filled the room.

Rin continued. “Now we are home in our BC castle. So, here’s the question. Kohaku, will you be my mate?”

The freckle face astronaut smiled. “I will. Will you, Rin, be my mate?”

“I will,” Rin responded eagerly.

The two kissed and hugged and were soon surrounded by hugs and pats from their siblings.

Kagome tugged on her daddy’s arm. Inuyasha turned to look at her.

“Was that the big question?”

“Sure was, Sweetheart.”

“Oh,” Kagome scuffed her shoes on the floor.

Inuyasha picked her up and balanced her on his hip as he walked over to the newest mates.

“What took you so long, Kohaku? I remember you asking about mating her when you were around four, a little before you decided you wanted to be an astronaut.”

“Who knows,” Kohaku shrugged. “Miroku actually made me think about it. He had been crushing on Sango---” but before Kohaku could continue his sentence Miroku had put his hand over his mouth.

“Surely there are other subjects of interest on this lovely day,” Miroku started but he was interrupted by Sango.

“You were thinking about me?” Sango looked shocked.

Miroku tried his puppy eye look, but Sango didn’t buy it.

Kohaku broke free from his brother’s grip. “Oh, yeah, sis. He’s been thinking about you since high school.”

“Traitor,” Miroku whispered.

“You could be mated already. Stop being so hard to get. You know you love her to the moon and back.”

“He does?” Sango’s eyes were sparkly.

“Dork,” Kohaku laughed.

“Chicken,” Miroku returned.

Kohaku laughed. “Yep, that’s me. Just a big chicken. Willing to fight an alien spaceship to save my world.” He hugged Rin to his side.

“He’s just never going to let go of that, is he?” Miroku pouted.

Kagome spoke up just then.

“I still don’t get why that’s a hard question.”

The quibbling brothers stopped and turned to their youngest sister.

“What do you mean Kagome?”

“You are always together. You are best friends, you and Rin and you and Sango,” She pointed to Kohaku and then Miroku. “You’ve been together all my life. You’re lucky.”

Miroku looked at his little sister. He looked deep in her eyes. A great peace came upon him.

“You are right, Kagome. I am lucky. Sango, I love you and I have for an exceptionally long time. Perhaps we should ---” he started to say, but Sango threw herself on him and started kissing him.

Kagome shook her head. “Still don’t see why it’s a hard question.”

Kenichi walked up to her and took her from Inuyasha. “You have a good sense of logic, my dear little sister. Do you want to come to my school?”

“Always recruiting,” a sibling quipped. “Never too young to go to TU!”

“It’s my alma mater,” Kohaku called out proudly.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 

The after-dinner event over, the siblings started cleaning up. They split into washing and drying dishes and putting up leftovers. After that there was swimming in the infinity pool and sitting by the firepit. 

When it started to get dark, Yuki called out, “Hey Dad, tell us a story.”

Silence fell as the puppy-eared parent scanned his audience.

“Very well. I have a special story for tonight. How would you like to know about Dolly?”

Nods and words of affirmation were the response.

“Go back with me in time to 1869 or so. Ryuu, you should remember. That was about the time you found out you could talk to animals.”

Ryuu nodded. “Yeah. I talked to Charger the horse and A-Un and wanted to explore my gift.”

Inuyasha nodded. “Your father had been answering all manner of medical calls all over Japan. I barely got to see him. You kids barely got to see him. When he came home, we decided we needed to spend more time together. Then we both noticed a change happening among the humans. We had been warned that there would be a time we would want to leave Japan for a while, but we didn’t know when. In 1870 we decided that we would move to Canada. Several of you wanted to stay in Japan. Uncle Jaken and Shippo were willing to keep an eye on you with the knowledge that you could join us any time. I wasn’t sure about it, but your Father said I needed to let you grow up.”

“We moved to BC. Initially the people stared at us, white hair was unusual then. But then your father projected a bit of youkai as a blanket and they all accepted us without a question. Seven years later there was a Japanese human immigration to BC. It was at the beginning of the Meiji period. Many thought they would get a new start in a new land. Unfortunately, they were treated poorly and only got the worse jobs. Your father and I helped as many as we could without given away who we were.”

“A pup by the name of Dolly was born here in Canada. Her parents were hunters. Their masters gave away the pups to anyone who wanted them. So, a poor Japanese immigrant took her. If her parents or masters knew what he had planned I’m sure they wouldn’t have given her away, but they didn’t.”

“In the ancient days in Japan there was a horrible practice that made a normal dog into an inugami. The poor animal would be buried in the ground with only its head sticking out. Then the humans would offer the animal food and water just out of reach. Within a short period, the animal would starve to death.”

The children gasped in horror.

“But it got worse,” Inuyasha continued. “Just as the animal died, the human sorcerer would cut off its head. That enslaved the spirit of the dog to the human who slayed it. The sorcerer would mummify the head and keep it in a secret shrine and the Inugami would be forced to watch over the family. Occasionally there would be times the sorcerer would use the inugami to do bad things or curse others. Other times the inugami would sense the sorcerer was weak and they would break their chains and wreak havoc.”

Keiko spoke up. “Please Daddy, don’t tell us that dear sweet Dolly is an inugami. That’s just horrible.”

Inuyasha nodded. “There is more to the story, my Blessing. Allow me to continue.”

“Sorry, Daddy. Of course,” Keiko wiped a tear from her eye.

“It is good that you feel for our precious girl. We would never do that to our own. It’s horrid. It was also outlawed in Japan too. The knowledge of how to make an inugami had nearly disappeared except for the poor immigrant that took Dolly from her family. He was down on his luck and decided that he would make an inugami to improve his fortune. He buried Dolly to her neck and then teased her with food and water.”

“Your father had heard some howling but didn’t know what it was. The howling continued and turned into a pleading sound. It got weaker and weaker. Your father decided we needed to investigate so we traveled in his bubble to the origin of the sound. When we arrived, Dolly had just died, and the man had swung his axe. Your father cut him down immediately.

“I dug up Dolly’s body and put her head in close proximity to the body. Tenseiga pulsated for her. Your father defeated the imps of hell and Dolly’s head rejoined her body. She had become an inugami but not a typical one. She is a dog that will live forever. She is not required to stay with us, but she chooses to because we saved her life and her soul.”

Dolly had pattered up to the family from her resting spot. It was as though she knew the subject was about her. She woofed at Ryuu. Ryuu blinked. 

Ryuu spoke. 

“Dolly wants you to hear the story from her perspective. I had asked her once. She told me but asked me not to share it. She didn’t want you to be sad.”

Ryuu moved to be in front of his siblings and his parents. Dolly joined him and sat by his side.

“Dolly remembers being given to the man. Her family wished her the best and she trailed after the man. She said that was the last time she wagged her tail until she woke in Father’s arms. The man was poor and couldn’t feed himself or her. Her coat became matted. He tied her on a rope and left her alone and without food all day when he went searching for work. He lost his hut and ended up living on the streets. They shivered in the rain and sweat in the heat. It was horrible.”

“One day the man dug a hole. Instead of tying her up he put her in the hole. Then he put in dirt and packed it around her head. She said he spoke weird words as he did this. Then he set out a plate of food, more food than she had ever seen. He stared at it and spoke more of the funny sounding words. It made her mouth water, but she couldn’t reach it. That was the first time she howled.”

“She told me the treatment lasted for days and she got weaker and weaker. It rained on her. She asked the Kami what she’d done to deserve this. She promised she would be better if only she had a second chance. She howled her last. As she did, a beacon of light caught her eye. The warmth of it called to her. She raised her head and saw a beautiful dark-haired woman glowing with an otherworldly light. The woman asked Dolly if she would like to go to the other side, where inus could be free of all the pain, never to be cold, hungry, unwanted, or unloved ever again. Or would she like a chance to live with a loving family for the rest of eternity?” 

“Dolly asked if they would have a place for her?”

“The angel said Yes.” 

“Dolly wasn’t really sure if she was an angel or kami but that’s what she called her.

“Dolly asked her if the family would always want her and care for her?”

“Yes, came the reply.”

“Would there be children that she could watch over and play with?”

“Apparently the woman found that humorous and laughed as she replied that there would be many.”

“Dolly’s last question to the ethereal being was her most important. Would they.... Would they love her?”

“The lady’s hand touched her head as she made a blessing. They will love you more than you will ever know. They will give you more love than you would have thought possible. You will belong to an extraordinarily strong inu daiyoukai alpha and his equally strong mate. They will love you and make you a part of their family.”

“A family? Light entered Dolly's eyes for the first time in years. It seemed like it had been forever since she'd left her family. I could have a family of my own? Yes, yes, I would love that! Please!”

“A serene smile graced the lady angel’s lips and she nodded. Go to sleep now, and when you wake up you will have your new family.

Dolly closed her eyes. 

“The next thing she knew Father was holding her and Dad was looking on. She said that Dad looked a lot like the pretty lady angel.” 

Inuyasha froze. 

Dolly pattered over to Sesshomaru and sat at his feet facing Inuyasha. A smile of contentment graced her sweet face. 

Sesshomaru reached out and patted her head. “Good girl.”

Sesshomaru reached for Inuyasha’s hand and squeezed it.  
“What a wonderful day! Our children are all here and we are surrounded by their love. Rin and Kohaku and Sango and Miroku have declared their love and devotion for each other. Our Dolly has been given a voice, thanks to our Ryuu. We know Father and Izayoi have been watching over us even with our faithful friend Dolly.”

Sesshomaru nodded to the heavens and bowed quickly.

“Izayoi, thank you.”

“Father, we are grateful.”

\-----#--

On the plains of Elysium, Izayoi paused for a moment and smiled. She looked to her spouse. Toga returned her gaze.

“I’ll be glad to take the credit,” he smirked.

“You Dog!” the lady smiled.

“Woof! Woof!” Toga laughed and wrapped her in his arms.

Together they looked down upon the Earth and smiled on their children and their offspring.

Izayoi blew a kiss.

A tear rolled down Inuyasha’s cheek. 

Dolly jumped in his lap and licked his tears. He hugged her to his breast.

“Good girl.”


	4. Chapter 4

<https://www.deviantart.com/gaylenightingale/art/Happy-puppy-840387642>


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